'Lies and the Left'... posted by Richard Seymour

Excellent post from Dead Men Left casually taking apart the falsehoods perpetuated by both Johann Hari and Nick Cohen in recent articles.

They have accused the Stop the War Coalition of supporting the murder of civilians in Iraq. The condemned the murder of Hadi Salih. Yet both authors have accused the StWC of encouraging 'the kidnappers/Baathists/Islamofascists/whomever' to resist 'by any means necessary'. This is false. Here is the relevant passage from a statement on the IFTU which they believe they are citing:

The StWC reaffirms its call for an end to the occupation, the return of all British troops in Iraq to this country and recognises once more the legitimacy of the struggle of the Iraqi people to secure such ends.

Resisting the coalition is "legitimate". Killing civilians is not. Hari is recycling a fabrication which was put about some of the sectarian papers and repeated on Harry's Place. Doubtless Cohen is too, since he draws much of his material from the Alliance for Workers Liberty and Harry's Place.

Indeed, as Andrew Murray of the StWC wrote to the Independent after Hari's attack, "we condemn all civilian deaths in Iraq, including those tens of thousands which are the responsibility of the occupying forces [Hari] supports." (Emphasis added).

Imagine someone who directly advocated the war accusing the antiwar movement of being complicit in murder. Imagine citing falsehood to do it. If you can imagine that, you've got yourself a column in the liberal press.